Chinese Proverbs, Wise Sayings

Useful insights, knowledge and advice for life and living!

Chinese proverbs are thoughts and observations about everyday living and universal truths, often inspirational or motivational in nature. Learn the wisdom of Chinese culture.

Let’s take a look at some of the best, most popular and wise Chinese proverbs ever written.

Origin of Chinese proverbs

The colloquial wisdom shared in these sayings comes from ancient Chinese literature, history, teachers, and philosophers. This advice and knowledge have been passed down through the ages. Many of the proverbs are attributed to Confucius, the best-known Chinese philosopher.

The lessons within these pearls of wisdom provide useful insights and knowledge to modern readers. They help in our understanding of daily life, education, work, relationships, and personal goals.

These expressions of Chinese attitudes and values are traditionally written in just four Chinese characters. The proverbs listed here are translated into English as closely as possible.

Proverbs Menu:

Click on any Chinese proverbs category below to jump to individual sections.

Success – Chinese proverbs

54.) A wise man makes his own decisions, but an ignorant man mindlessly follows the crowd.

55.) The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.

56.) A man who cannot tolerate small misfortunes can never accomplish great things.

57.) If Heaven made someone, earth can find some use for them.

58.) His virtues exceed his talents–a superior man.

59.) To succeed, consult three old people.

60.) Those who just want speed don’t succeed.

61.) A man grows most tired while standing still.

62.) It is easy to find a thousand soldiers, but hard to find a good general.

63.) Stout men, not stout walls, make the stout city.

64.) A man who chases two rabbits catches neither.

Motivational Chinese proverbs

65.) Pearls don’t lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive for it.

66.) Habits are cobwebs at first; cables at last.

67.) The glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.

68.) All things are difficult before they are easy.

69.) An ant may well destroy a whole dam.

70.) Climb the mountains to see lowlands.

71.) Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

72.) While there are green hills, there’ll be wood to burn.

73.) Determination tempers the sword of your character.

74.) To be heard afar, bang your gong on a hilltop.

75.) The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

76.) Solve one problem, and you keep a hundred others away.

77.) Each has his own task, and nobody is dispensable.

78.) To have principles first have courage.

79.) To stop drinking, study a drunkard while you are sober.

80.) If you survived a storm, you won’t be bothered by the rain.

81.) A man who cannot tolerate small misfortunes can never accomplish great things.

82.) The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.

83.) Do everything at the right time, and one day will seem like three.

84.) Ripe fruit falls by itself — but it doesn’t fall in your mouth.

Family Chinese Proverbs

85.) Govern a family as you would cook a small fish – very gently.

86.) A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.

87.) Parents who are afraid to put their foot down usually have children who step on their toes.

88.) To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without root.

89.) Easier to rule a nation than a child.

90.) Giving your son a skill is better than giving him one thousand pieces of gold.

Friendship

91.) The more acquaintances you have, the less you know them.

92.) A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody.

93.) No guests at home, no hosts abroad.

94.) With true friends… even water drunk together is sweet enough.

95.) A man should choose a friend who is better than himself. There are plenty of acquaintances in the world; but very few real friends.

Love

96.) Married couples tell each other a thousand things without speech.

97.) Love isn’t about having, it’s about enjoying (what you have).

98.) Love is not about possession, it’s all about appreciation.

99.) Hold hands with you, grow old with you.

Happiness – Chinese proverbs

100.) If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap, If you want happiness for a day, go fishing, If you want happiness for a month, get married, If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune, If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.

101.) I was angered, for I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet.

102.) Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come.

103.) To know others, know yourself first.

104.) What you don’t see, you don’t desire.

Chinese Proverbs on Money

105.) Stare at the profit and step in the pitfall.

106.) While you are bargaining, conceal your coin.

107.) Neither fortunes nor flowers last forever.

108.) If you want to avoid being cheated, ask for prices at three different stores.

109.) Simple to open a shop; another thing to keep it open.

Learning

110.) Experience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald.

111.) A nation’s treasure is in its scholars.

112.) If you are planning for a year, sow rice — if you are planning for a decade, plant trees — if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.

113.) Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself.

114.) Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.

115.) Studying is like rowing upstream: no advance is to drop back.

116.) He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.

117.) A good teacher. . . better than a barrowful of books.

118.) Fall into the pit, a gain in your wit.

119.) Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.

120.) We can study until old age. . . and still not finish.

121.) The ripest fruit falls by itself.

122.) When you say one thing, the clever person understands three.

123.) “I heard” is good; “I saw” is better.

124.) Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

125.) He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

126.) Blame yourself as you blame others; forgive others as you forgive yourself.

127.) A fall into a ditch makes you wiser.

128.) Learning is a weightless treasure you can always carry easily.

129.) Genius can be recognized by its childish simplicity.

Knowledge – Chinese proverbs

130.) If you want to find out about the road ahead, then ask about it from those coming back.

131.) A book holds a house of gold.

132.) When the waters drop, the rocks appear.

133.) One beam, no matter how big, cannot support an entire house on its own.

134.) A fool judges people by the presents they give him.

135.) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

136.) To believe in one’s dreams is to spend all of one’s life asleep.

137.) In a group of many words, there is bound to be a mistake somewhere in them.

138.) The best fighter is never angry.

139.) It’s better to be without a book than to believe a book entirely.

140.) Three feet of ice were not frozen in a day.

141.) O eggs, don’t fight with rocks.

142.) A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.

143.) Without sorrows no one becomes a saint.

144.) Tile tossed over the wall. . . who knows where it will fall?

145.) A good book is a good friend.

146.) Do not believe that you will reach your destination without leaving the shore.

147.) Before preparing to improve the world, first look around your own home three times.

Truth

148.) A hundred no’s are less agonizing than one insincere yes.

149.) A clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

150.) If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow.

151.) Nurture the plant one year–ten days of flowers.

152.) If the first words fail, ten thousand will then not avail.

153.) There are always ears on the other side of the wall.

154.) To know a fish go to the water; to know a bird’s song go to the mountains.

155.) No man is a perfect man; no gold is sufficiently bare.

156.) A whitewashed crow soon shows black again.

157.) One meal won’t make a fat man.

158.) Honest scales and full measure hurt no one.

159.) Want a thing long enough and you don’t.

160.) Don’t fear the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you.

161.) Talk does not cook rice.

162.) If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it.

163.) What you hear about may be false; what you see is true.

164.) Touch black paint, have black fingers.

165.) Laws control a lesser person; right conduct controls a greater one.

166.) With virtue you can’t be completely poor; without it you can’t be truly rich.

Pride proverbs

193.) Small men think they are small; great men never know they are great.

194.) Men trip not on mountains they trip on molehills.

Time proverbs

195.) A king’s riches cannot buy an extra year.

196.) Don’t waste your hour–the sun sets soon.

197.) Time is money, and it is difficult for one to use money to get time.

198.) Slow work–fine work.

199.) It takes more than one cold day for a river to freeze a meter deep.

200.) A bad beginning makes a bad ending.

201.) To build it took one hundred years; to destroy it one day.

202.) Do everything at the right time, and one day will seem like three.

203.) To be totally at leisure for one day is to be immortal for one day.

204.) My life–a candle in the wind… frost on the leaves.

205.) Age and time do not wait for people.

206.) If you hurry through long days, you will hurry through short years.

207.) Don’t miss opportunities: time doesn’t come round again.

208.) An inch of gold can’t buy an inch of time.

Manners

209.) If you want your dinner, don’t insult the cook.

210.) ‘After you’ is good manners.

211.) Patience is a bitter plant, but its fruit is sweet.

212.) A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers.

213.) Forget the favors given; remember those received.

214.) A filthy mouth will not utter decent language.

215.) Beat the drum inside the house to spare the neighbors.

216.) If you bow at all, bow low.

217.) A sharp tongue or pen can kill without a knife.

218.) A smile will gain you ten more years of life.

219.) Behave toward everyone as if receiving a guest.

220.) When you drink the water, remember the spring.

221.) Listening well is as powerful as talking well, and is also as essential to true conversation.

222.) A smile dispels many worries.

223.) A man without a smiling face must not open shop.

How to use these Chinese proverbs

The wisdom expressed in these short sayings provides insight into many areas of life. Much can be learned by simply thinking about how the lessons relate to your individual life and applying the knowledge to your own particular circumstances. Please note the English translation of these proverbs can vary.

Beyond that, here are more ideas on how you can use these idioms in everyday life:

Classroom: Teachers will find these proverbs useful in classroom studies and teachings.